#SmartAuthor “A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE”

#SmartAuthor The Launch Team is at it again!! As a dedicated member of the Team, I urge all you “writer-want-a-be’s” to investigate these sites and listen to these podcasts. I wish I had heard them in 2012. I am listening to them now, sometimes twice, and amazed at what Steve Orlandella (my deceased husband) and I did not know when we began publishing books. Between us, we have fifteen books for sale on amazon.com. I have two ebooks for sale on smashwords.com. Just imagine what we could have accomplished if we had known what we were doing!! In all fairness to Mark Coker, there were articles that I could have read to be more informed. (sigh). No. We forged ahead on our own – all over the place with pricing and length. These were our first publications.

Guess what? There are “sweet spots” for ebook pricing. Length matters. Books that are part of a series perform different from books that are standalone. Steve’s novels are part of a series. One of my books is 550 pages long. Do I fix what has been done? How? Lots to think about.

SO, for those of you who are considering writing a book (Dennis), and for those who are already writing books (Adria), take a look. Now, most of these tips concern marketing, which begs the question: Where does the creative process of writing stop, and marketing begin? Are they intertwined? As I said, lots to think about.

“1. SMART AUTHOR PODCAST PRESENTS THE 2017 SMASHWORDS SURVEY

Today in Episode 7 of the Smart Author Podcast, Mark presents the 2017 Smashwords Survey. Each year Mark compiles the Smashwords Survey to reveal numerous direct and indirect factors that impact a book’s visibility, desirability, and enjoyability to readers. These factors are easily controlled by the author. As an indie author, you have the opportunity to tweak and tune these factors to improve your book’s performance.

What are some of these factors?

Book length? Do readers prefer shorter books or longer books? In this episode, Mark analyzes the word counts of our bestsellers and compares them against the poor sellers.
What about pricing? What are the pricing sweet spots if you want to maximize readership, or if you want to maximize earnings, or if you want to maximize both? We’ve got that data.
What about pre-orders? Do books that originate as pre-orders sell more copies than books that do not? If you’ve listened to the prior episodes, you already know the answer to this question — though in this episode, Mark shares even more information on the impact of pre-orders.
How about the length of your title? Do books with longer titles sell better, or worse?
What about series? Do books in a series earn more than standalone works?
What about free? Does free still work, and if so, how can you put it use?

Mark shares answers to these questions and many more in Episode 7 of the Smart Author Podcast.

If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to subscribe at one of the links below.

Coming up next week for Friday, November 24, in Episode 8 Mark presents The Art of Delusion. All writers, even bestsellers, face dark days when it can be difficult to find the strength to power on. Mark will share 20 tips to help you persevere and succeed.

Where to Listen and Subscribe:

Apple Podcasts – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-author/id1298180300?mt=2
Stitcher – https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-coker/smart-author
SoundCloud – https://soundcloud.com/user-845581352
TuneIn – https://tunein.com/radio/Smart-Author-p1043483/
iHeartRadio – https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-Smart-Author-28595395/
Google Play Music – https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Inyyeidlihl2vizh4cegieizsvu
Smashwords (Listen over your web browser) – https://smashwords.com/podcast

Supplemental resources:

You’ll find edited transcripts of each episode at our Smart Author hub page at Smashwords. Just click on the “Show notes” link to access the transcript and supplemental resources.

Join us at Facebook at the official Smart Author Facebook Page where you can discuss each episode with fellow listeners, or pose questions following each episode.

If you enjoy the episodes, please share with friend!

Enjoy!

2. REMINDER TO EROTIC AUTHORS: PLEASE CERTIFY YOUR WORKS

A few months back, Smashwords introduced new certification process for erotica and erotic romance. By providing us enhanced classification information for your erotic titles, you’ll remain in good standing with retailers that have specific requirements for which taboo subjects they’ll accept, and which they won’t.

If you’ve already certified your works, we and our retailers thank you!

Authors who fail to certify works requiring this certification will likely see their titles disappear from some retailer shelves some time after January 1.

If you haven’t yet certified your erotic works, please visit your Dashboard today! If you have multiple erotic books requiring certification, you can use our handy bulk certification tool that allow you to certify up to 50 books per screen.

For more information on our new certification process, please see the original blog post at http://blog.smashwords.com/2017/09/smashwords-erotica.html

3. HELPFUL RESOURCES

Thanks for choosing Smashwords for your ebook publishing and distribution. If you’re enjoying the Smart Author Podcast, please help us spread the word by sharing links with your friends! For those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving next week, Happy Thanksgiving! The Smashwords Team“

Pay attention, Writers! if you want your published works to sell!! Do it!!

Best, Jay

One thought on “#SmartAuthor “A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE””

mariewest65 says:

November 19, 2017 at 8:13 pm

Thanks for all the info. I ave always had the desire to write. I have Poems published and one book. I have a lot written for my own pleasure, but I don’t know know enough about how to do it right, like you.
Thanks for helping us wanna be folks.

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